Both the men and women of Cornell cross country competed against 157 other teams at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, PA on Friday. Facing much more stringent competition than its previous meet against SUNY Cortland back on Sept. 9, the Red fought valiantly against its numerous opponents.
All of the men’s scorers were within the top 200, good for a final score of 352 points and 12th overall. They achieved this score despite the fact that illness plagued some of the runners in the week prior to the race.
“We had a couple guys drop out and we had some illness,” said head coach Mike Henderson. “Some [sick] guys tried to give it a go, and so we didn’t have the depth that I think really shows who we are.”
Senior Tyler Canaday, junior Aryan Abbaraju and freshman Griffin Mandirola were the top scorers, finishing 20th, 24th and 33rd, respectively in a race of more than 1,300 contestants. Junior Matthew O’Brien and sophomore Colin Martens rounded out the scoring, scoring 99 and 176 points, while placing 103rd and 188th, respectively.
“The top three really delivered,” Henderson said. “Those top three showed, ‘Hey, if we’re really firing on all cylinders, we could be a strong team.’”
The women also performed well. Deciding to race tactically, they started comparatively slow and eventually worked their way up to 15th overall with 559 points. Senior Mairead Clas, sophomore Hannah Kersten and junior Maisie McManus were the top performers for the Red, placing 52nd, 77th and 122nd. Rounding out the scorers, freshman Evelyn Prodoehl placed 134th and sophomore Bronwyn Parks scored 174 points, placing 180th.
“[The women] did a good job of digging themselves out of a hole,” Henderson said.“They were a little more controlled early and they found each other. They did a really good job of running together as a pack.”
When looking at the placements of the men and women in context, a trend emerges: both emerged victorious over Ivy League rivals Dartmouth College and Brown University. The men dispatched the University of Pennsylvania, while the women failed to do so. Both were convincingly beaten by Harvard University and narrowly defeated by Yale University.
The losses to Yale may have dire implications for the Red. The top two teams from nine regions across the country go to the NCAA Championship, and a further 14 are selected based on which teams they’ve beaten over the course of the season. Given that the Red and the Bulldogs are of a similar calibre, losing to them is a tough blow to bear.
“It’s not a cause for concern, but it’s certainly a cause for motivation. … I don’t like losing to anybody in the league, and especially [in] close battles,” Henderson said. “Yale is a strong program and they know they’ve got big goals for themselves, too. So we know that we’re never going to be able to forget about them.”
Luckily for the Red, it will have plenty of opportunities to avenge narrow defeats like the one it suffered against the Bulldogs. The next opportunity will come on Oct. 17, as the Red heads down to Princeton, NJ, to compete in the Princeton Fall Classic.
Eric Joy is a Sun Contributor and can be reached at ewj36@cornell.edu.
